01 February 2011

Inspiring Courage

"Fear profits a man nothing"
 - The 13th Warrior

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about fear. [I in fact meant to post this on the 15th of January, but the words just didn't come...They have now arrived.] Fear paralyses us from attempting what we think is impossible. It "freezes the blood" in our veins, "makes our hearts sink," and "destroys our will" to act.



And yet, there are many things that stand as reminders of fears that have been overcome.
If the men in the Higgins boats and the C-47s on and above the Normandy beachheads on 6 June 1944 had let fear have its way, we would be living in a very different world today. If the Israelites had continued to believe they couldn't take the Promised Land, they would never have crossed the Jordan - no matter how many more years they had to wander in the desert. I can't decide if my ultimate point should be a Lord of the Rings reference about Frodo walking into Mordor, or one about William Wallace standing his ground against the charge of panoplièd English cavalry; you take your pick and feel sufficiently inspired by your preferred historical reference, and enjoy knowing that I'm me and make those references. :-)
Shoot, it could just be the act of procrastinating rather than working on a midterm essay: You would never know how much you had learned and how well you could synthesize it unless you actually wrote the essay; and if you didn't, you could be missing out on a great essay, and would likely continue in your self-doubt! [This also applies to a blogpost...even one about fear.]

And doubt, I think is a key part of understanding fear. In the Mark track at the IVCF Red River Region RECweek summer retreat last May, we concluded that doubt is not the opposite of faith: Fear is the opposite of faith.
Fear, which says "This is too big an obstacle to be overcome," throws up its hands and quits; Fear, which says "I'd rather stay inside than go out and possibly get rained on"; Fear, which says, "Oh, I could never be any good at that, so I'd better not try."
Doubt on the other hand says, "Oh, I don't know - maybe it could work," and then half-heartedly attempts to accomplish its goal. But half-hearted attempts yield quarter-hearted results.

"I believe; help my unbelief!" is the plea of faith.
"Increase our faith!" is the prayer of faith.
"Lord, save me!" is the cry of faith.

Where do you fear to step forward in faith and trust the promises of God?
Where do you keep your mouth clamped closed when the Lord is saying, "Taste and see that I AM good"?
Where do you need to be "strong and courageous"?

The past few weeks, I was convicted that I'm afraid; in many areas, my faith is weak. I proclaim "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" with my tongue, but my actions do not bear it out, which shows that I do not genuinely believe it in my heart. But then it occurs to me that Peter, who made that affirmation, also denied Christ three times and fled to keep from being persecuted.
But what does Christ say to us about persecution, pain, and suffering in this world? He says, "Take heart; I have overcome the world."

"Take heart" - etymologically, this is the meaning of courage. I think the first time I remarked this word was nearly 10 years ago when I first saw Braveheart, and noted the juxtaposition of "rage" and "courage" in the scene where Wallace and Bruce talk about fighting against overwhelming odds. Then in a class on Chaucer in the Fall of 2008, I learned that courage comes from French - and felt like an idiot, after years of playing Age of Empires II and enjoying the Richard "Cœur de Lion" campaign so much!
But why "take heart!" against overwhelming odds? Why fight, not flee? What's wrong with fear, anyway - it has a very solid base in reality!

Not so!
If I believe that Christ is the son of God, I'd better act like it.
Where faith believes in a future hope, one that will not be cut off, fear says "there is no hope."

But how to "take heart" in a world that praises pessimism, apathy, and cynicism as the products of "facing life realistically"?
Just a few lines before the first instance of "corage" in Chaucer's general prologue to the Canterbury Tales, he uses the word "inspired," and - and this is why I like him - he uses it in its original sense of "to breath into." (For instance, Genesis 2:7 could be translated into English as "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and inspired into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." In fact, I understand that in the Hebrew, there's a lot of wordplay on the relationship between "breath," "wind," "spirit," and "breathe," each of which can variously be translated to English by "inspire.")

If you have a genuine hope (for wanhope works only to embitter), share it with others. Inspire them with your words and deeds, that they may be spurred on to greater things, finding hope even in the face of despair. For everyone you meet is fighting a secret battle, though there is hurt and danger enough in the world without war to multiply it.
" 'Take now this Ring,' he said, 'for thy labours and thy cares will be heavy, but in all it will support thee and defend thee from weariness. For this is the Ring of Fire, and herewith, maybe, thou shalt rekindle hearts to the valour of old in a world that grows chill.' " Círdan to Mithrandir, The Silmarillion: Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Restore to others the will to act; buoy their hearts; and warm their blood against the chill of the world by sharing the hope that you have.
Inspire courage.

2 comments:

  1. responding to this in my blog :)

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  2. I like the emphasis on inspiring courage in others. Hebrews 10:23-25 starts off with discussing holding fast our confession of hope without wavering and continues with spurring one another on/encouraging/not forsaking our assembling together - clearly these two (inward persuasion of hope and outward en-couragement) are connected!

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